Snippet #1554553

At the warrior's outburst, there was a sudden, complete hush in the inn. Now, everyone present knew that there was a danger, and a big one. Elnin raised a hand and called to the human, “Oh, come on now, there is no danger threatening those short fellows, right? There's no need to worry. We have had a lot of travellers that were dwarves and they know how to take care of themselves. A group of bandits, as you say, are not much of a threat to them. Isn't that right folks?” There was a murmur of agreement, or perhaps, of nonchalance, before everyone resumed their talk, with the occasional laughter breaking over the general noise.

Elnin nodded to the warrior in agreement and made a discrete gesture for him to sit down. Then he leaned forward, his lips parted in an expression of half-anger, half-smile. He looked into Feran's eyes, and with as much self-control as he could muster replied, “I do not call them easy dinner. In fact, I didn't even shoot any of them. However, you have to agree that we're getting the same amount of bruised animals from the forest at the side of dragons, and since I can not -talk- to animals, I didn't know if they were attacked by swords or by what.”

He rubbed his face with his left hand and looked at his wife. “Apparently, now we have the proof.” He chuckled softly, trying to get the tense mood to lift from the table – to which he was partly responsible.

“The thing is,” he said, turning to the warrior, “we don't really know of the numbers. Even a third of the dark elf population is more than I and my archer friends can handle. I have a suggestion.”

He paused for a moment, and gave Anya's hand another small, gentle squeeze, as if to ask her to consider this as logically as she could. “Anya has told me of a gem in her first vision. Now that all of this is true, the gem is also there. The best way to disable this army, rather than meeting it by force, is to disable its cause. The cause is the gem. Put this away for a moment though. We have the problem of this approaching army. That makes us have to somehow fight them. However, we are not aware of their number, their equipment, and their condition. Gathering a large force in here to fight this army is going to take a long time, something we don't have. So our best bet in this situation is to disable them, or somehow weaken them. And if these dark elves are coming to us, charmed by a gem, I don't think a few arrows is going to make them retreat. I propose that I go and spy on this army, then come back and report to all of you. Then, based on what I've seen, we could decide. Besides, I will see if I can get a look at that gem. We need to destroy that gem. That should be our first priority. Without that gem, there would be no army, and no loss for the dark elves. I don't like them, but I don't like killing them either.” He waited, then added, “so, if you all agree, I'd better go ready myself.”